Devices, methods, and program products are provided, which support multiple Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes or platforms during the placeshifting of media content. A given placeshifting session may be initiated between a placeshifting device and a user-controlled client media receiver executing a browser player. In one embodiment, the DRM placeshifting method includes storing, in a memory associated with the placeshifting device, DRM-protected content; receiving a request from the client media receiver over a communications network to stream the DRM-protected content to the device; and obtaining a placeshifting key and initialization instructions for the DRM-protected content. The DRM-protected content is streamed to the client media receiver in an encrypted format accessible with a placeshifting decryption key. In conjunction with streaming the DRM-protected content, initialization instructions is transmitted to the client media receiver containing information utilized by the browser player to obtain the DRM license from a first license server.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method for implementing Digital Rights Management (DRM) during a placeshifting session initiated between a placeshifting device and a client media receiver executing a browser player, the method comprising: storing, in a memory associated with the placeshifting device, DRM-protected content; receiving, at the placeshifting device, a request from the client media receiver over a communications network to stream the DRM-protected content to the client media receiver wherein the placeshifting device comprises a Set-Top Box (STB) located in a residence of an end user; authenticating the client media receiver at the STB prior to streaming the DRM-protected content to the client media receiver; downloading a placeshifting encryption key generated by a headend in communication with a first DRM license server; encoding, by the placeshifting device, the streaming transmission in an encrypted format utilizing, at least in part, the placeshifting encryption key previously downloaded from the first DRM license server; initiating after authentication of the client media receiver, a streaming transmission of the DRM-protected content by the placeshifting device over the communication network to the client media receiver in an encrypted format accessible with a placeshifting decryption key; and in conjunction with streaming the DRM-protected content, transmitting DRM initialization instructions to the client media receiver utilized by the browser player to obtain a DRM license containing the placeshifting decryption key.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising including, in the DRM initialization instructions, a first Universal Resource Locator (URL) address of the first DRM license server from the DRM license can be obtained by the browser player.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein obtaining comprises transmitting, over the communications and to the headend, a public key uniquely identifying the placeshifting device to enable authentication of the placeshifting device by the headend.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising: obtaining a placeshifting encryption key generated by a headend in communication with a plurality of DRM license servers each configured to issue a different DRM license type; and utilizing the placeshifting encryption key to encrypt the DRM-protected content streamed to the client media receiver.
5. The method of claim 4 further comprising: receiving, at the placeshifting device, DRM platform-specific initialization information for the plurality of DRM license servers; and transmitting the DRM platform-specific initialization instructions to the client media receiver as part of the DRM initialization instructions.
6. The method of claim 5 further comprising including, in the DRM platform-specific initialization instructions, Universal Resource Locator (URL) addresses for each of the plurality of DRM license servers.
7. The method of claim 4 wherein obtaining comprises obtaining the placeshifting encryption key as a symmetric key containing initialization vector data.
8. The method of claim 7 further comprising: in response to further transmitting the placeshifting decryption key over the communications network, receiving from DRM initialization instructions from each of the plurality of DRM license servers; and providing the DRM initialization instructions to the client media receiver in conjunction with transmission of the placeshifting encryption key, the DRM initialization instructions containing the DRM initialization instructions received from each of the plurality of DRM license servers.
9. The method of claim 8 further comprising: verifying the authenticity of placeshifting device by ensuring that unique identifying information provided by the placeshifting device matches the corresponding information held in a public key database.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting the DRM initialization instructions comprises embedding the DRM initialization instructions in the streamed DRM-protected content in clear.
11. A method for implementing Digital Rights Management (DRM) during a placeshifting session initiated between a placeshifting device and a client media receiver, the method comprising: receiving, at a headend, a request from the placeshifting device over a communications network for a placeshifting encryption key utilized by the placeshifting device in encrypting placeshifted content streamed to the client media receiver wherein the placeshifting device comprises a Set Top Box (STB) configured to: receive a unique public key from the STB; prior to transmit of the placeshifting encryption key to the placeshifting device, authenticate the STB by a search of a public key database maintained by the headend for the unique public key which has been provided by the STB: in response to receipt of the request, generating the placeshifting encryption key at the headend along with a matching placeshifting decryption key; transmitting the placeshifting encryption key over the communications network to the placeshifting device; further transmitting the placeshifting decryption key over the communications network to at least one DRM license server in communication with the headend; in response to further transmitting the placeshifting decryption key over the communications network, receiving from the at least one DRM license server DRM initialization instructions; and providing the DRM initialization instructions to the client media receiver in conjunction with transmission of the placeshifting encryption key.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein further transmitting comprises further transmitting the placeshifting decryption key to a plurality of DRM license servers each configured to issue a different DRM license type.
13. The method of claim 12 further comprising: in response to further transmitting the placeshifting decryption key over the communications network, receiving from DRM initialization instructions from each of the plurality of DRM license servers; and providing the DRM initialization instructions to the client media receiver in conjunction with transmission of the placeshifting encryption key, the DRM initialization instructions containing the DRM initialization instructions received from each of the plurality of DRM license servers.
14. The method of claim 13 further comprises including, in the DRM initialization instructions, Universal Resource Locator (URL) addresses for each of the plurality of DRM license servers.
15. The method of claim 11 wherein generating comprises generating the placeshifting encryption key and the placeshifting decryption key as a symmetric key pair containing initialization vector data.
16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising: verifying the authenticity of the placeshifting device by ensuring that unique identifying information provided by the placeshifting device matches the corresponding information held in the public key database.
17. A method for implementing Digital Rights Management (DRM) during a placeshifting session initiated between a placeshifting device and a client media receiver for executing a browser player, the method comprising: transmitting a request over a communications network to a placeshifting device to stream DRM-protected content to the client media receiver; receiving, at the browser player, the DRM-protected content in an encrypted format accessible with a placeshifting decryption key; obtaining a DRM license containing the placeshifting decryption key from a first DRM license server; utilizing the placeshifting decryption key to decrypt the DRM-protected content for presentation to an end user operating the client media receiver; receiving, in conjunction with the DRM-protected content, DRM initialization instructions contained in a DRM initialization instructions package; utilizing information contained in the DRM initialization instructions package to obtain the DRM license containing the placeshifting decryption key from the first DRM license server wherein the DRM initialization instructions package comprises Universal Resource Locator (URL) address list for a plurality of DRM license servers each configured to issue a different DRM license type; determining, at the client media receiver, a DRM platform type supported by the browser player; identifying the first DRM license server as compatible with the supported DRM platform type; and utilizing the URL address from the URL address list corresponding to the first DRM license server to obtain the DRM license from the first DRM license server.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
June 29, 2017
April 7, 2020
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.